


Emapth

by CourtNicxVoltronxYJ



Series: Empath [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Crying Keith (Voltron), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Foster Kid Keith (Voltron), Gen, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Keith & Shiro are brothers, Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith is an empath, Self-Harm, Suicidal Actions/Attempts, Suicidal Keith (Voltron), Suicidal Thoughts, Touch-Starved Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-24
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-13 11:42:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14748168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CourtNicxVoltronxYJ/pseuds/CourtNicxVoltronxYJ
Summary: Keith is an empath and he is struggling with dealing with his ability.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time doing a series on here and I really hope it goes okay.

Keith's life has never been simple. After never knowing who his mother was or the reason why she left him. Losing his father and the only brother and friend he ever knew to space.

Struggling with the ability to sense and read the emotions of another being was painful, which made him push others away and keep to himself. Over the years in many different foster homes and feeling others pain he became so distant he became touch-starved. Whenever someone touched his skin, it felt like it was on fire and only hurt him worst than being hit or feeling someone's emotions. He wore finger-less gloves because if the palm of his hands came into contact with a surface someone previously had touch, some of their emotion could linger behind and effect Keith even if it was of the past.

So, when he discovered strange energy signals, he followed them and they soon enough lead him to his lost brother and only friend.   
They plus a few other teens soon were rushed up into space, into an unknown area, in an unknown war. 

After a while once everything settled down, Keith let out a breath that he didn't even realize that he was holding. Being in space had many problems but it also had an upside to it all. It was quite out there, calm. He still locked himself away in his room, to get away from the others emotions on the castle but it was so different than being on Earth. He had to move out to the desert to find some kind of peace and quite. Keith couldn't function with others, he couldn't live by them either for he was overwhelmed with everything. 

Now when he got overwhelmed, he would either train for hours or find a space spot in Red. He was so grateful for Red, for the red lion seemed to pick up on his abilities and the pain and stress it caused him on a daily basic.

Keith thought things were looking up, however he should have known better than to get his hopes up. After a horrible mission, everyone came back injured in someway and their emotions were high, with their thoughts racing putting Keith more on edge. Allura had locked the training deck off because she wanted everyone to get a chance to rest up after they lost horribly on their last mission. By doing that, she had unknowingly put Keith in more harm than a few hours training could ever do to him.

Everyone was sitting around in a kind of daze as they all thought about what had just happened. Once in awhile one of them would speak up and a small conversation would begin but eventually it would die down once memories and pain came back to them. Keith sat off in the corner of the room. He had his eyes held tightly shut as he tried his best to shut everything out but it was beginning to become way too much for him to possibly handle, especially on his own. 

Keith gripped his left shoulder tightly, feeling the pain in it where Hunk had injured his shoulder. His body was slowly beginning to tremble with all the stuff he was getting hit with. Out in the battle, his mind and body seemed as if they didn't focus on any of that stuff at all. He would soon come to learn that Red was somehow blocking everything out for him when he was in the cockpit. 

Keith had blocked out everyone voices and was just drowning in all of their feelings. He was itching to escape it all but had no real idea on how to do that.

Eventually, Keith was curled up in a small ball and was shaking with so much pain. His shoulder ached along with different parts of his body, injuries that he knew the other paladins had received during their battle.

"S-Stop" Keith whispered in pain as his grasp around his legs tighten, bringing them closer to his aching chest. 

Just then Pidge had walked over towards him and he just lost it, all the strength he had that was holding him together was lost within a second of her coming closer towards him.

"No!" he screamed and moved away from her, scaring her and making everyone else turn towards him.   
"No! Don't! Don't come any closer!" yelled Keith and he pressed his back against the wall of the room. 

"Keith?" questioned Pidge but Keith quickly shocked his head 'no'.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" asked Allura as she slowly walked over towards Pidge. 

Keith quickly glanced over at her and hit his head. "My head" he cried out in pain then hit his chest as a single tear ran down his face.

"Keith-" began Pidge but was cut off by Keith.

"It's exploding! The p-pain! You're letting it in! St-Stop!" cried out Keith who hit his head again. As soon as Keith said those few words something clicked in Shiro's mind. 

Keith's an empath. He feels pain and emotions.

Shiro wanted to slap himself for forgetting this detail. He thought of how stupid he could be. He knew this and remembered times he had to calm himself down completely before going near Keith, especially when he was having one of his episodes. Shiro opened his eyes and for what felt like the first time since leaving Earth with Matt and Sam, he saw Keith, the real Keith. He saw his baby brother and he was screaming out in pain. 

Keith needed him.

"Stop! Everyone take a step back" called out Shiro, everyone gave him a look and knew he had to be demanding about this if he actually wanted to help his brother out. "Now!" yelled Shiro and everyone did as he said, all eyes where on Shiro then they quickly moved back towards Keith when they all heard him gasp out in pain. 

Keith had his blade he always carried with him now pressed against his wrist as he pressed down, drawing out blood.

"Keith!" yelled Lance who made his way closer towards Keith but Shiro hurried forward and grabbed Lance's arm before he could touch Keith. Shiro yanked Lance backwards, earning himself questionable looks as to why Shiro had stopped Lance from trying to help Keith. Shiro held his hands out towards everyone and drew in a deep breath before turning towards Keith.

"Keith. Keith, can you hear me?" Shiro said as he had to sadly watch Keith slice another cut into his arm. He was so worried that if he moved too quickly on Keith that it would only drive him farther into his episode and he didn't want to see that ever happening again.

"T-The pain..." Keith whispered without looking up from his wrist that was bleeding. The cuts weren't deep enough to kill him but deep enough with enough pressure to surely leave a scar behind.

"What pain?" asked Pidge and Shiro glanced over his shoulder to look at her. She hadn't moved from her spot but she was deeply concerned for Keith, as everyone else was.

"All of it. Everyone's pain! It h-hurts!" cried out Keith who then gripped his shoulder tightly and Pidge turned towards Hunk and saw him slowly rubbing the same shoulder Keith was holding tightly onto.

"I feel it. I feel all of it" Keith said as he then hit his forehead again and bit his bottom lip until it was bleeding.

"Shiro?" asked Pidge but before he could answer her, Keith screamed out in pain, tears were rolling down his eyes down as he quickly brought his blade down towards his wrist to make a vertical cut. Shiro couldn't wait no longer and he sent out a silent sorry to Keith as he quickly grabbed his arm and yanked the blade out of his grasp. 

As soon as Shiro had grabbed Keith, he flinched away at the touch and screamed even louder as he tried his best to get away from him. Keith flipped out as soon as the blade was gone and then Shiro's arms were tightly around him, holding him in place. Coran came over with a needle and bent down before Keith. 

"I won't hurt you my boy" Coran said as he moved closer. Keith then suddenly opened his eyes and looked directly at Coran.

"You are hurting me. You're pity...it's...it's like razors inside!" Keith said and Coran looked over at Shiro who nodded his head, telling Coran that it would be okay to give Keith the sedative. Coran nodded and quickly pricked Keith's pale skin. Keith's hand moved up quickly and held tightly onto Shiro's shirt as he balled in up. He continued to cry out in pain but slowly his body began to slowly down and soon enough he went limp in Shiro's hold. Coran waited a moment before taking Keith from Shiro and heading off towards the med bay. Shiro sighed and picked up Keith's blade and stared at it. He could hear the others saying his name, trying o get his attention for they wanted answers as the what was going on. A single tear ran down his face before he stood up on his feet and looked at everyone in the room.

"There's something I need to tell all of you'' Shiro began.

\----------------------------------------------------

After telling everyone what had happened, what Keith was dealing with a wave of sadness flowed through the room, it was so heavy that they all could feel it. They all felt bad for Keith and wanted to do everything that they could to help their friend out. When he left he over heard Pidge and Hunk discussing about a possible way to block what Keith was feeling, either through a wrist band of some sort or possibly some kind of medicine.

After what felt like forever and a huge weight that he forgot he was carrying around, Shiro made it to the med bay to find Coran all alone.

"Where's Keith?" he asked Coran.

"As soon as number four woke up he rushed off towards the hanger. I believe he muttered something about the red lion but I can't be sure. I...I also heard about what you told the others. If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know" said Coran and Shiro nodded his head and then left towards the red lion hanger, towards his brother. 

When Shiro entered the hanger he saw the barrier around Red. He slowly walked forward and laid his hand upon it. He closed his eyes and tried to reach out to the red lion. "I know he's in there. He needs me, I can help him out. Please let me in'' said Shiro. He only waited for like a minute, probably what was long enough for the red lion to ask Keith if it was alright for Shiro to come in. The barrier slowly went down and Red lowered her head and opened her mouth to allow him in. He whispered a small thank you and rushed in to find his little brother.

Keith was there, curled up in his paladin seat. His knees where pulled up to his chest and Shiro could see his small form shaking and hearing the little sobs and whimpers coming out of him. As soon as he stepped by the chair, Keith's head popped up and he quickly held his arms out for Shiro to pick him up. A smile formed upon his face. He reached down, picked the small red paladin up and then sat down in the pilot seat with Keith curled up on his lap, his face smashed into the crock of Shiro's neck. Shiro gently rubbed circles on Keith's back and hushed him a few times when he would get worked up. Between the sobs, Keith would mumble out a few words, telling Shiro how Red was helping him. Shiro hold on Keith grew as he silently thanked the red lion for being there for his brother when he had not been. He held Keith until he fell asleep in his hold. 

Keith now felt warm, safe and loved but knew that his battles with this, being an empath where far from over.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter will shine a light on a small bit Shiro's and Keith past dealing with Keith's abilities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Contains mentions of suicidal thoughts, depression, self harm and suicide attempts. I added this as a trigger warning just in case.  
> AND  
> *Contains hints of Shiro/Allura

Shiro remained seated on the cool floor of The Red Lion's cock pit. Just inches before him, laid Keith curled up on the cot in the back of Red. Every once in awhile, Keith would whimper in his sleep. Shiro knew that The Red Lion was shielding his younger brother from all the emotions, all of the pain from everything outside of her, but sadly his nightmares continued to haunt him, still bringing him pain. Shiro's eyes would drift down to his hands that laid numb in his lap then drift back up to Keith's sleeping form.

"Shiro" called Allura over the coms and Red let out a low growl, warning the princess to not disturb her cub. Shiro smiled at that, he was glad that The Red Lion had Keith's back and his best interest at heart.

"May I have a word with you, it's regarding Keith'' came Allura's voice over the coms. Shiro glanced over at Keith and waited a moment before gently reaching out to brush some of his bangs out of his face.

"I'll be right back'' whispered Shiro as he then stood up and began to exit The Red Lion.

"Keep him safe" Shiro then whispered to Red as he went to meet with Allura.

\--------------------------------------

Allura and Shiro sat in the lounge, sitting in silence for a few seconds before she began to speak to him about Keith.

"How is he?" asked Allura as she turned to face him.

Shiro sighed before he gave her an answer. "He's asleep right now thanks to The Red Lion, she is helping block out everything around him from hurting him." Allura nodded her head in understanding.

"I asked Coran to look into this, and we have discovered something. It is a rare condition that some Galra have, the sense to feel others emotions, they can even use this ability to do a number of other things. From what we have discovered is that those who have this rare ability can become druids such as the ones we have seen.  
Since Keith is a hybrid, his abilities are maxed it would seem. The others plus Coran are trying to find something to assist him with this. I do apologize for not taking notice of this before, he must have felt so much pain and felt so alone as well" said Allura who then reached out and took Shiro's hand into hers.

He sent her a smile but he couldn't find his normal joy out of their hand holding. Shiro just felt so hollowed out at the time. The only feels that he could bring up to the surface was sadness and guilt, overwhelming amounts of guilt. He was blaming himself for not taking notice of this, of his little brother.

Shiro slowly made his exit of the lounge and headed right back towards the hanger to the red lion, to his brother.  
When he got there he wasn't surprised to see the particular barrier up, shielding everyone out. As he approach the red lion, she allowed the barrier to come down and let him enter her.

Keith was exactly where he had left him just moments ago and he resumed his spot on the cool floor, sitting before his sleeping brother.

His mind wasn't silent as memories and thoughts of the past came back to him like a punch to the stomach, knocking out all the air inside him.

\-----------------------------

Shiro slowly entered the torn down home that his friend Keith was living in with his yet again new foster family.

Keith had sent him a text message saying he was feeling terrible.  
That wasn't unusual for Keith to feel bad though and Shiro knew this, for he had discovered that Keith had empathetic powers and it killed him to see the young boy in some much pain. Keith was always in a lot of pain because of others, from the pain of being unwanted and abandon by his parents. To the harsh words and hits tossed his way from adults who were supposed to look after him, to kids around his own age picking on him. When Shiro first met Keith, he had a black eye, a broke wrist and multiple cuts and bruises from his latest foster home. It took awhile for Keith to fully open up to him but Shiro guessed by Keith having this ability, that he could feel that he could trust Shiro even when so many others have crushed it. It didn't take long before these two were really close. Shiro from time one was always there for Keith, no matter what.

The unusual part of the text was the last part that thanked Shiro for everything.  
Something in the pit of Shiro's stomach told him that something was wrong, something was terribly wrong.

Shiro searched the house to find nothing. Keith wasn't there and that scared him dearly. Keith's noise cancelling headphones, that at times helped kept out the noise from all the screaming his foster parents did but sadly they could never shut of the pain he felt, he could never find away to shut out all of the emotional cloud surrounded around him everyday for every second.

Fear began to trickle up the back of Shiro's throat. He began to pace around the room when suddenly, his eyes fell upon Keith's notebook.  
At times Keith would write out words phrases or even draw pictures of some of the emotions that where hitting him. Shiro grabbed the book and saw a pen sticking out of it, right where Keith had left it. He flipped to the page and glanced down at the scribbled words that in some parts were too hard to make out, they were scribbled down in a hurry with pain lanced through his writing. His eyes then came upon a small drawing in the corner of the page.

It was a hill, but as Shiro looked closer, he could tell that it was a cliff and Shiro knew exactly where this spot was at. He had taken Keith there before in the late of the night when things sometimes got too much, whether it was the emotional pain he felt or something to deal with his foster parents. This cliff stop was off in the distance, had a cool breeze to it and had an wide, open view of the sky. Both he and Keith loved looking at the stars and would get lost in hours just starring at them as everything else faded away.

Shiro wasted no time to get to that cliff and when he got there his heart stopped beating. Keith was standing on the edge and he looked like he was preparing to jump.

Without much thought in the matter, Shiro screamed out to him and bolted right for him.

"KEITH!!!" screamed Shiro as he ran.

Keith quickly turned around to face him. His face was tear stained, his eyes puffy and red. Keith took the smallest step closer towards the edge of the cliff as Shiro grew closer towards him.

"No don't!! Please! Please Shiro don't!!" Keith cried out and before he could take that last step, sending himself over the edge Shiro grabbed him. As he held Keith tightly to his chest, he could feel the boy trembling in his arms. Keith began to scream out in pain, cry so many tears that showed how badly his heart was aching. He kicked, hit and tried to squirm his way out of Shiro's grasp but it was a losing battle.

"No!!! Stop!! I need to!! I-I....it's too much!!! Please I c-can't!!!! It hurts!!!" cried out Keith as Shiro began to try and calm him down.

"Shhh, it's okay. I know, but I'm here" hushed Shiro as he gripped tighter onto him as Keith fought more to get free.

"Ahhh! It's not okay! Ahh! Please.... Please I n-need it...need it to st-stop!!! It hurts!! Shiro!!!!" screamed Keith as more tears fell from his bright violet eyes. Shiro pressed his face in the crock of Keith's neck, he closed his eyes because he was becoming too emotional about this and he knew that he had to calm down for he couldn't bare to have Keith hurt anymore so.

"Let! Me! Go! Ahhh!!! Stop it!!!! It Hurts!!! Why?!?! Ahhhh! I want it over with!!! Please!!! Please Shiro....save me!! Ahh! NO!!! Help Me!!!!" Keith cried and Shiro knew that hearing Keith's broken voice, his pleads for him to kill him hurt Shiro deeply inside which could only add to Keith's pain, not help him.

Shiro could feel the heat coming off of Keith. He was so overwhelmed, in so much pain that he was now running a fever and by the feel of it, it was high. He couldn't tell if Keith was now trembling from all the pain or now the fever he now had, but he sadly figured that it was a combination of both of these things.

Eventually after so much of Keith fighting Shiro's grip, him crying and screaming out of pain with a high fever, Keith soon enough succumbed. Leaving him weak and trapped in a restless sleep.

That was the very first time Shiro had actually saw Keith truly break down from his abilities. And whenever things reached this sort of level, he would refer to them as an episode because these times were always far worst than any other times.

It was also the first time he attempted to end his life and sadly it wasn't the last time either.

\-------------------------------

"-kasi?" said a small voice, breaking Shiro out of his mind. Shiro looked up at his brother and sent a reassuring smile to him.

"I'm here" he whispered and brushed some of Keith's bangs off his sweaty, pale forehand. He watched as a small smile brushed a crossed Keith's lips before his eyes lipped shut.

"I'm here... I'm always gonna be here" whispered Shiro, his words falling silent to the sleeping boy before him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope whomever read this has liked it and please leave me a comment. I really enjoy/love reading them and thank you so much!!!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After everyone finding out about him, and him having an episode. Keith begins to pull himself away from everyone, including Shiro.

Keith laid still on the cot in Red as he listened to Shiro leave. Once he knew he was finally alone he allowed the tears to fall. With each tear falling, made Red that more determined to protect her cub. Her barrier went up locking everyone out but also locking Keith inside, which he didn't mind.

Keith didn't know how long he laid there, not moving and not caring at all. He soon heard Shiro pounding upon Red's barrier and yelling for Red to open, pleading with Keith to let him in, that he could help him. 

But Keith just wouldn't open it. Couldn't allow Shiro in. 

Over the years, Keith had grown to knowing Shiro's presence and he has come to welcoming it when he needs it to ground him. But not now, he just can't. 

So Red leaves the barrier up and after awhile, Shiro leaves and all is silent again. He is protected from the outside world, from everyone's emotions but not that he is all alone, he is being attacked by his own emotions and his mind. Telling him that he is worthless and maybe worst of all a liar. It now felt like the band-aid was ripped off, exposing a gaping hole in his chest. Showing everyone the ugly, naked truth, that he was a freak.

All he has done since coming up into space was lying. He was doing it to protect himself. He didn't want to see their rejection on their faces, to be seen as a freak like he was so many times on Earth. This ability of his felt only like a curse to him and it was so bad that he wished for death to come, to save him and release him of all of life's pain. So Keith pulled his knees tighter towards his chest and buried his head in his knees as he felt a stabbing pain go through his heart, for he feared the worst and could only guess that now that everyone knew the truth about him that their perception of him has changed, and probably for the worst.

So many times Keith would hear Shiro or someone else come to Red asking for him and Keith didn't have an ounce of energy to move from his spot, so he just sat there in silence as he listened to his friends. And just hearing them only made the pain in his chest hurt that much more, because his mind kept telling him that they didn't really care about him, that he was a freak and had no place among them.  
\--------------------------------------------

Soon Keith felt a small pressure upon his shoulder and the feeling of being shaken awake. He blinked his eyes up and saw Shiro looking down at him. His eye brows crunched up as he was confused as to how Shiro got in here, into his safe place, his hole.

"Shiro?" questioned Keith as he slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position but quickly got hit by a wave of dizziness. He laid back down and slowly glanced over at Shiro. Shiro brushed Keith's bangs off of his sweating forehead and cast down a familiar smile to him, asking the silent question that was upon his lips.

"Red lowered the barrier, it's been 3 days Keith. You need to eat something'' said Shiro as he gently sat down beside Keith.  
Keith frowned at Shiro and only pulled the small blanket closer towards his chest, with a shake of his head. 

"Keith, if you don't eat something soon, we're going to have to put you on an IV and I know how much you hate-" 

"Not hungry." Keith said cutting Shiro off. 

Shiro sighed and felt completely helpless. He had no idea how to help Keith out of this type of situation. Back on Earth, Keith wasn't around that many people, he could always find a way to escape all of the noise and pain, but up here in space he had no escape except The Red Lion. Red allowed Shiro in because she was worried about her cub, he needed to eat and needed help and she could no longer sit back and watch it happen even though Keith didn't want the barrier down. 

Shiro looked back at Keith and ran his hand over Keith's hair. He eyes were shut again, he was tried and had no energy. The episode wore him out but now with the not eating that was only making matters worst for Keith.

After a moment pause, Shiro pulled out the thermometer and gently rolled it across Keith's forehead. 

103.4 F

"Shit" he said as soon as he saw the temp. he couldn't wait any longer either.

"Sorry Keith" Shiro said as he then slowly pulled Keith into his arms and carried him out of The Red Lion and quickly made it to the med bay.  
\------------------------------------

Shiro knew the second someone was around them for he felt the way Keith's body tensed up and was shaking. His eyes brows slipping downwards into a pain expression. He whispered apologizes after apologizes to Keith because he knew that this was only hurting Keith even though he was just trying to help him out. But all of his apologizes fell upon deaf ears for Keith was under a storm of pain and darkness, trapped in it and feeling like there was no way out.

He pushed the doors open and was met with worry faces of the others, for none of them knew what to do and seeing Keith this way pained them. Keith was the strong, hotheaded paladin who seemed fearless but over the past few days all they have witness was a pain staking fear from Keith. 

How can someone seem so fearless but be full of fear at the same time?

Shiro quickly laid Keith down as Coran rushed over. As soon as he got near him, Keith whole body began to shake. 

"He's having a seizure" Pidge calls out. 

There isn't anything Shiro can do to stop the horrible pain Keith is feeling, all he can do at the moment is hold Keith's shaking body down.

It pains him, it pains all of them to just see Keith in so much pain. They are all amazed at how well he has kept up this mask that he was alright, that he wasn't in stabbing pain every single second of the day and night. 

How could someone be in so much pain but still have the courage to keep going?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that this is very short and I apologize for that. I've been wanting to update this recently but I've been hit with a big wave of my depression and just don't seem to have the energy or focus to write right now. I'm sorta like Keith in this, him hiding away and not having the energy or will to move.
> 
> But I do hope you liked this little bit and I do plan on writing more later on.   
> Thank you :)

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this and please leave me a comment on your thoughts about this, I really enjoy/love reading comments!


End file.
